Toy soldiers made by the Multiple Plastics Corporation were always inferior to those of Marx, but while Marx merely toyed around with the use of separate accessories, MPC went for it in a big way.
This line of MPC soldiers is known collectively as Ringhands, because many of the early figures had holes bored through their hands to accommodate weapons and other tools of their trade. Later figures, like these space explorers, had empty, grasping hands rather than true rings. (For a look at true Ringhands, check out the very cool MPC pirates HERE.)
MPC saved a few bucks on these space guys by using molds made for their WWII soldiers, then casting them in colors other than olive green. A kneeling figure, designed to wear an army helmet and aim a rifle, was also included in the spaceman set, but he wasn't fit for missions because none of the space accessories fit him.
More Toy Soldiers HERE.
6 comments:
I don't think I have any of these. I know I don't have the accessories. Then again, I never was a big ring hand fan.
I don't remember having these figures, although, oddly, the space helmet accessory looks familiar. I did have a few MPC ring hand pirates. I also had a set of much smaller spaceman figures, all the same color (silver), soft plastic, and their accessories (weapons, helmets) were integral with the figures, i.e., not removable.
IIRC, the Fireball XL5 Space City set had soft plastic figures of the characters from the TV show, plus some generic astronaut figures the same size. Again, the accessories were integral with the figures.
I googled MPC Spacemen to see what accessories I'm missing, but found almost nothing about these guys. Saw a LOT of those more common accessory-free space guys.
According to the Astroforce comic book ad, there are 4 colors of MPC spacemen. Does anybody know what those 4 colors are?
I don't think I ever had these, but I did find a few helmets & guns at an antique store closing out a few years ago. I bought them and realize they do fit on the MPC army guys I have, but always assumed they were meant for more "spacey" figures. Great article.
A long-belated answer to Anonymous: There are three colors pictured here. I also have some in purple.
Post a Comment